Police in Brazil have increased patrols in one of the nation's biggest slums in the cityof Sao Paulo after violence erupted on Wednesday night following the arrest of three alleged drug dealers.At least 11 people were reported injured, including a baby, after local residents burned vehicles, threw rocks and blocked key roads in the Penha slum in protest against the arrests, local media said on Thursday.
Images from Bandeirantes TV, a local television station, showed heavily armed riot officers at the scene on Wednesday and firefighters hosing down burnt out vehicles and the tire barricades.
Two of the three drug dealers arrested managed to escape during the riot, a spokesman for Sao Paulo's public safety department told AP news agency. Luiz Felipe Muffo said on Thursday authorities are investigating whether the city's infamous First Capital Command gang was involved. The First Capital Command gang reportedly controls most of the drug trade in Sao Paulo's slums. It was blamed by authorities for a month of violence in 2006 that left 200 people dead, including police, prison guards, suspected criminals, jail inmates and bystanders.
Raids in slums of the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro are common but violence in Sao Paulo's slums is relatively rare.
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